Start: 03-11-2003 End: 15-11-2003 IOTA: SA002 Island: Curacao
A business trip operation in 2003
Why not bringing the radio with me when traveling to Curacao for a business trip. Therefore, I brought my standard radio travel package with me. Had no idea of the provided accommodation but there should be a way to get an antenna in the air. On the other hand, next to work, I also intended to visit the beaches, travel the island and exploring Willemstad, so time for the radio would be very limited.
The location of the bungalow at “The Pearl of the Caribbean” is at a remote place at the eastern part of the island without high buildings and lots of free space. However, it was not possible to get the G5RV installed on a satisfactory height.
I thought however that any piece of wire would allow me to make contacts anyway but it turned out that even with the G5RV it was very difficult to get a good signal out.
I worked on all bands from 40-10 meters but the majority of the contacts were made on 40 and 30 meters with Europe and South America but mostly with North America. The operation was mostly limited to the late evening hours and resulted in just over 500 contacts. The usual setup of the station was; FT-897, MFJ tuner, Bencher paddle and a laptop with CT logging software.
Other brief operations took place in September 2015, May 2018 and November 2019.